The Copper Scroll by Joel Rosenberg

I'm breezing through these novels by Joel Rosenberg. The Copper Scroll is the fourth book in this political series. We're following the same characters. Jon Bennett and his new wife.

They are called back to service while they're on their honeymoon. And they aren't happy about it, they quit there political positions in the last book. But if they refused this presidential request, we wouldn't have this book.

There's a copper scroll out there (hence the title) that supposedly gives clues where the treasures of the Temple that Solomon built.

Bennett and his wife are tasked to find it. And, wait a minute, if they find this scroll, they may find the actual Ark of the Covenant. (The one Indiana Jones found)

Meanwhile, the new President of Iraq desires the treasure for himself and continue to rebuild Babylon. (can we say Anti-Christ anyone?)

I'm glad I only have one more book to read in this series. Like I've said before, I enjoy the political thriller aspects but the religious preaching sickens me.

God and Empire by John D. Crossan

I must be on a liberal kick. I picked up God & Empire because of a footnote in Jesus for President. Little did I know that the author, John Dominic Crossan was the co-founder of the Jesus Seminar.

Crossan is buddies with Marcus Borg, so that should give you a little hint as to where he comes from concerning Jesus.

I had to get past the horribly written first chapter to really enjoy this book. The first chapter feels like you're reading the most boring university lecture ever created. The latter chapters pick up the pace and my interest.

This book follows on the coattails of the fad of learning about the historical Jesus - the Jewish rabbi, peasant, teacher. Crossan has written a couple books detailing the past and what the historical context of Jesus' life was like.

In this book, we learn what it must have been like to live under Roman authority. Over and over again we read about Rome's "Peace through Victory" while God was is all about "Peace through Justice". Very interesting.

As with Borg, I find myself reading Crossan's thoughts and wondering, why does it have to be either/or? Why can't it be both? Why can't the things we read in the Bible be historically accurate and used for teaching like a parable?

This was another "heavy" book. Quite "high eyebrow" if you ask me. For the scholarly among you.

Your God is Too Small by J.B. Phillips

Tried to read this book for the morning men's group I'm part of. It wasn't what any of us were expecting. In fact, most of us quit reading it after the first 30 pages.

Your God is Too Small was written for people who either don't believe in God and want to or people who believe in God and want to be able to point to a book and say, "See, told ya so!"

I found it to be slow and boring, yet hard to read. How's that for a 1-2-3?

I suppose it's because I'm far removed from the generation of this book, but I'm more inclined to read something similar by Bell, Miller, or McLaren.

I didn't finish this book. And I'm not sorry about that.

The Ezekiel Option by Joel Rosenberg

Joel Rosenberg's third political thriller has me crying, "foul".

Let's back up a bit; I really enjoyed his first two novels, The Last Jihad and The Last Days. These earlier books had a great story to them and were very engaging. However, by the end of The Last Days, Rosenberg added a little conversation that was a sneak-peak at what was to come.

And what came was The Ezekiel Option.

The story is about Rosenberg's main character, Jon Bennett, a senior White House adviser and his fiancee trying to stop a massive war in the middle east.

There's a new czar in Russia and he knows how to play the political game. He calls on Israel to dismantle all of her nuclear weapons and help create a peaceful Middle East or face dire consequences. Remember America saying the same thing to Iraq? That is the plan for Israel. In this case, will America step up to protect Israel? Will there be a volley of nuclear warheads?

The long and short of the book is right there.

Now comes the part that I despised: This book has become another series in the Left Behind theology. There are pages upon pages of theology preaching by two characters. They even mention LaHaye and his books. Unbelievable.

Can we please just have a cool political thriller without the religious gab?

Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne

I picked this up because I kept reading about it from some friends on Facebook. I'm glad I did. This book will stretch you if you allow it. If you can get past your patriotic identity, this book will challenge you to rethink your place as a follower in Christ in The United States (or whatever country you live in).

I did not like Claiborne's first book, The Irresistible Revolution. I felt like he was preaching to me how great a Christian he was compared to how poor a Christian I was because I didn't do the kind of things he did.

But Jesus for President is a different kind of monster. I just read Rob Bell's newest book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians and the two are very similar. The major difference is Claiborne is in your face and won't let your cheeks go.

The authors begin with the Hebrew Scriptures (The Old Testament) and explain how God wanted His people to live. Then how the people of God decided they had enough experience of God as King and wanted their own human king to rule their land.

Big mistake.

The second third of the book takes us to task for our allegiance to The American war machine, economic choices, and living patterns.

My favorite part is when we're asked how can we worship Jesus as Son of God and follow a President? One says to love our enemies while the other says to kill our enemies.

I shared just a little tiny bit with some friends and they were up in arms against what this guy was teaching. Like many American Christians, they believe in the idea of a Just War. Claiborne would say, as followers of Christ we need an alternative to killing. Any form of killing.

But that's just the beginning of this book. There is no much depth and "meat" to digest that you will have to go out and get it. You will find it exceptional. Even if you disagree, you'll love the debate you'll have with yourself.

Jesus for President a new kind of way of looking at politics.

Bend It Like Beckham

Mistaken assumptions. That's what Bend It Like Beckham is about. That and girls playing soccer.

Parminder Nagra (televisions E.R.) plays a girl who is dealing with living with her Indian family and having the skills to play soccer. Her family does not want her to play soccer. They want her to find a good Indian man and be a good Indian wife.

Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean) watches Parminder play soccer with some guys in a park and asks her to play with their team coached by Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Can you see where this is headed? Let me fill it in for you. Keira likes the coach. Parminder, while intoxicated, falls in love with the coach as well. Problems, problems, problems.

Meanwhile, Parminder's family believe she is secretly dating an English boy because they see her and Keira hugging (Keira has short hair) and Keira's parents believe Keira is gay because they see the two girls hugging and being girly alot.

This isn't my kind of film. I actually got it because my wife heard the soundtrack somewhere and thought it was cool.

The Bourne Supremacy

I know, I know; it's been a while since this film's been out. Let me tell you, our library is just catching up with the rest of the world. And seeing as I enjoy things free - I pick up most of my movies from the library.

I really enjoyed The Bourne Supremacy. Because I just now saw it, I can't really compare it to the first film, The Bourne Identity. This sequel was a fine-tuned machine.

Matt Damon returns as Jason Bourne. He's the guy who was trained to be an assassin and then lost his memory. That was the first film.

Supremacy picks up with Bourne and his girlfriend living in India trying to keep a low profile. Unfortunately, another hitman, played by Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings) finds them and kills the girl.

This causes Bourne to do what any distraught hitman would do; seek revenge and answers from those who did it.

Enter the Federal Agent who knows nothing about the first movie, Joan Allen. Who assisted by Julia Stiles and Brian Cox engaged with Bourne in a case of mistaken identity and assumptions made wrong. (seemed to be the weekend for those kind of films**see Bend it Like Beckham review**)

The fighting scenes are great. The car crashes that were used in the first film are used again. So basically it's a similar film, but you continue to learn a bit about Bourne. Can't wait to see the next one.

The Last Command by Timothy Zahn

The final book in what is called "The Thrawn Trilogy" has just been finished.

The Last Command was a huge disappointment for me. I kept digging through the story even after I had given up in my mind. It was like I was in a daze.

It could be that Timothy Zahn was restrained at what he could write about. This trilogy was the first addition to George Lucas' work that Lucas allowed so maybe Zahn couldn't write the story he wanted to.

But this final story was basically a re-telling of Return of the Jedi. We had the epic space battle, we had the forest-based ground battle, and we had the jedi lightsaber battle all at the same time.

This trilogy was a wash-out for me. I didn't enjoy reading them. Thank goodness it's over. Now let me get into some better books.